Car-coupling



Pateed May 19, .1896.

ANDREW, EGRAHAM. PNOTUU'IHOYWASHINGTON. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

LEANDER E. SLOAN, OF MILWAUKEE, WVISOON SIN ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WALLACE G. COLLINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,374, dated May 19, 1896. Application filed October 28, 1895 Serial No. 567,069. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEANDER E. SLoAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of I/Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to improve car-couplings of that class having the drawbars provided with pivotal jaws held in working position by Vertical pins, and it contemplates an easy positive lift of a pin to uncouple a car, as well as an automatic release and return of pin to normal or working position, together with prevention of longitudinal play in a train of coupled cars.

Therefore said invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view, partly in horizontal section, of a portion of a car-coupling embodying my improvements, the jaw in pivotal connection with the draw-bar being shown in coupled position; Fig. 2, a detail plan view showing uncoupled position of the jaw in pivotal connection with the draw-bar, the coupling-pin in this figure and its predecessor being shown in horizontal section on line 2 2 of Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a detail sectional View illustrating the working position of a pivotally-adj ustable buffer-stop constituting part of my invention, as well as the relative arrangement of a coupling jaw and pin out of normal or working position; Fig. 4, a sectional view illustrating one of the sections of my improved coupling having the jaw and coupling-pin in normal or working position; Fig. 5, a partly sectional front elevation illustrating the aforesaid improvements, and Fig. 6 a detail section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 1.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A represents a draw-bar provided with a pivotal jaw B, having a rearwardly-extended pin abutting shoulder b, said draw bar and jaw being common in the art to which my invention relates. Each pivotal jaw B is preferably organized, as shown at c, for the engagement of an ordinary coupling-pin in cases of emergency; but the coupling-pin proper is .the one Q, herein shown as having loose verand its lower end is preferably convex, as

herein shown, in order that it may be acted upon by a pivoted or f ulorumed lifting device to the best advantage under all circumstances.

As herein shown, I may employ a longitudinal rod 1), pivoted at its rear end in a stirrup E, depending from the draw-bar A, the outer end f of the rod being flat in a horizontal direction and opposed to the lower extremity of the pin 0, above specified. The rod D rests on a lever F, pivotally hung in a stirrup G, depending from a cross-beam H of a car provided with the aforesaid draw-head, and this lever is not only preferably of such length as to extend beyond a side of the car, but is also engaged with a vertical lifting-rod I, that works in a guide g on the cross-beam, and is limited in the matter of downward movement by a stop-shoulder it, that overhangs said beam.

In practice a lift of the lever F is transmitted to the rod D, and the latter operating against the coupling-pin 0 this pin is elevated to have its shoulder extension 61 come out of the path of the shoulder 19 pertaining to the jaw 13, thus leaving said jaw free to turn on its pivot vlwhen it is desirable to uncouple a car. Then the jaw B swings into uncoupled position, its shoulder 12 comes under the elevated shoulder extension at of the coupling-pin to hold the latter in position to which it has been lifted, the lever mechanism being automatically returned to normal position after release of the rod I, above specified.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when cars are coupled the swing of a loose jaw on its pivot will cause its shoulder b to clear the shoulder extension cl of the adjacent coupling-pin and the latter of its own gravity returns to normal or Working position in the path of said jaw-shoulder.

The lever mechanism herein set forth has positive and. certain action on the coupling pin under various conditions familiar to railroad operatives.

As a means for preventing longitudinal play of a train of coupled cars Iprovide pivotal stops J,that swing down to approximately fill the normal space between thebuffer-heads K and cross-beams H of each car, each stop being preferably notched in a vertical direc- X stops consisting of pivotal plates of sufficient tion to engage with the adjacent buffer-shank L, as best illustrated in Fig. 5. In practice the stops J are elevated on their pivots when cars are to be coupled in order that the springcontrolled buffers may yield to the shock of cars coming together, and said buffers having automatically returned to normal position said stops are swung down to-effect the aforesaid result. Preventing longitudinal play of a train of coupled cars by means of the bufferstops makes it impossible for the draw-bar jaws to automatically disengage.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A carcoupling, each section of which comprises a draw-bar provided with a pivotal jaw having arearwardly-extended shoulder and a loose vertically-movable pin that comes normally in the path of said jaw-shoulder; together with a pin-lifting rod that extending longitudinally of the draw-bar is pivoted at its rear end thereto, a lever arranged to come under the rod, a lever lifting-rod, a guide for the same, and a stop-shoulder on the latter rod tobe brought into position to overhang a cross-beam of the car to which the couplingsection is connected.

2. A car-coupling, combined with bufferthickness to approximately fill the normal spaces between buifer-heads and adjacent cross-beams of cars to thereby prevent longitudinal play of said cars when coupled and possible automatic disengagement of the coupling-sections. V

3. A buffer-stop comprising a pivotal vertical'ly-notched plate of sufficient thieknessto approximately fill the normal space between a buffer-head and adjacent cross-beam of'a car. In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Visconsin, in the presence of two witnesses. v LEANDER E. SLOAN. itnesses N. E. OLIPHANT, B. O. RoLoFF. 

